Trevor the duck was named after New Zealand’s parliamentary speaker, Trevor Mallard.
Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

Trevor the duck, whose tale of loneliness on the tiny Pacific island nation of Niue made him a local celebrity and captured headlines last year, has died.

He was found dead in the bush after being attacked by dogs, according to a social media page dedicated to the drake.

The mallard is thought to have been blown on to the island during a storm about a year ago. He came to global prominence after an article by the New Zealand Herald that chronicled his life in a roadside puddle due to an absence of wetlands or ponds across Niue.

He was named Trevor, after New Zealand’s parliamentary speaker, Trevor Mallard. “Deepest sympathy to the people of Niue from the parliament of New Zealand,” Mallard posted on social media on Monday.

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Rae Findlay, Niue’s chamber of commerce chief, said Trevor’s death would be a loss for the nation. “He captured many hearts and even the rooster, the chicken and the weka were looking a little forlorn today wandering around near the dry puddle,” Findlay told ABC.

The remote Pacific atoll of Niue, a three-and-a-half hour flight from Auckland, has a population of 1,600. Nicknamed the rock of the Pacific, it has no suitable habitats for ducks. Local firefighters topped up Trevor’s puddle after New Zealand’s former high commissioner began feeding him.